Ok, I'm mad

[Grejo]

Ok so i bought FFXI recently and got it in the mail today. i spent 5 hours downloading everything and updates and stuff and then right as i'm about to log in, it says my graphics card isn't compatible with the game. ok so first this is total BS, they should save you 5 hours and make sure your system has the right stuff for the game. ALSO, There's this live fixed camra thing in the game where you can watch a certain area and watch what people do in that fixed area. Ok so if my graphics card can't handle the graphics of the game....then why can i veiw the live fixed camra thing without any problems, no lag, and the graphics are still good? i don't get it. and did you know graphics cards can get up to 1000 dollars?! that's crazy for just playing a frikkin game!!

So does anyone know why i can't play the game yet i can still veiw the full graphics and backround and everything on the fixed camra?

[Dioxin]

I can't directly answer your question, but I'm sure you can buy a cheaper graphics card and still have it work. I can't imagine a newer one at around $200 wouldn't fix your problem. Cars go up to $100,000, but you can get a nice one for $20,000.

[EliteTrooper]

2 options...

1.Buy the the card(I have given up on pc gaming myself(POS pc))
2.If it works then ignore it 8)

[Rdaug27]

emulator

I had a similar problem when I tried playing BF2 on my cpu. (My graphics card didn't support the TNL) I was able however to find an emulator program that made some of the more complex graphics run off of your cpu's processor instead of your graphics card processor. There were alot of options and choices to make and it may help you. However I am at work right now, and dont have the program name. I will post it here as soon as I get home.

[Grejo]

will using that program make the game lag or freeze up?

[Rdaug27]

found it

ok grejo i got a link that might help you out. it has a link to the software, and how they got it to work on ffxi. hope it helps. (i eventually broke down an paid like $100.00 for a new card that supports tnl, they do have them cheaper than that though, but the store i went to was out so i paid more)

http://vnboards.ign.com/FFXI_Tech_Support_Board/b22547/61668077/?5

[captnjeter]

I had a graphics card problem when I set up Battle for Middle Earth 2. While a great graphics card is pretty expensive, mine didn't go for $1000. I was able to pick up the second best NVidia card (either the 6800 or the 7800, which ever one was better) at Best Buy for 300. Course then I found out that my computer didn't have the proper power setting to run the graphics card so then I had to get a new power supply for the PC.

[RaTix]

If its running on the main CPU and not the GFX card's CPU, then it will hinder the performance to some degree. Its always better to have the hardware that was intended to do the job, do it. There's always issues that arise once you start emulating things.
But for the sake of being able to play while you wait to get a new card, its probally worth the trade off in the short run.

If you want to a get a new card, i would suggest checking onwww.newegg.com or www.Tigerdirect.com
They are both ussually pretty cheap.

[Grejo]

ok i think it might help but it won't let me select the playonline program to edit and emulate. It says select an exe file but apparently it doesn't think playonline is an exe

any help?

edit: when i try and open the playonline thing it says PlayOnline.lnk

What is lnk and how can i open the program if it doesn't say exe?

[Rdaug27]

not sure

I'm sorry I can't be of further help to you. I have never played the game you are trying too. Yes I did have some problems with screens loading slowly, but the game play did't really seem to be affected. I had problems staying connected online because of the slow load speeds of the maps, thats why I upgraded my video card. Again sorry I can't be of further help.

[Q]

i suppose you could always go out and by a PCI secondary GPU